Where Do You Stand Now?

[Neal]

Paul Elio DID actually say "We want the Elio to be everyone's second car that is used for commuting to work." It is not their intention to haul around families regardless of their size. There won't be a larger Elio for quite a while. Besides, IF Elio becomes popular, how far behind will Ford or Chevy be? They sure won't let Elio kill sales of their low end vehicles for very long without competing.

Exactly. Even looking at the Fox and Friends video from just amonth ago, Paul says (and I paraphrase) that the vision for the car is to be a +1 car. Its a commuter car to go along with a family car. He stated the the low cost of the car in addition to the high MPG would make it cost no more than what people are paying for gas already. This is exactly my situation.

 

[Rickb]

Paul Elio DID actually say "We want the Elio to be everyone's second car that is used for commuting to work." It is not their intention to haul around families regardless of their size. There won't be a larger Elio for quite a while. Besides, IF Elio becomes popular, how far behind will Ford or Chevy be? They sure won't let Elio kill sales of their low end vehicles for very long without competing.

Elio will be a functional 2 seater that everyone may have in their driveways to compliment the family car, SUV, motorcycle, or pickup. Elio will fill a major gap in transportation needs just not all the needs rolled into one Elio. No vehicle can be all things to all drivers. I don't think Elio wants to build cars or ever will.

Big Auto doesn't want to get into manufacturing motorcycles. VW's ready for production 2 seater 3 wheeler was production ready a few years ago when their attorneys pulled the plug for stated liability reasons. It was a cool three wheeler I had been waiting on a long time.........to my disappointment. Big Auto will develop cars to be more efficient not build cycles. However, motorcycle manufacturers may take notice.

 

[Larry Rymal]

With 10 being the point you thought this car was a go, when you first became interested, what is your number now, and most importantly, how many days has it been since you jumped in?

Probably about a "5" or so. I'm in it for the long-haul, though. I am concerned that suppliers and backers might begin bailing out, but that is just uninformed speculation on my part. Having to set up a marketing infrastructure, converting the GM plant, having a final product design for programming GM's assembly robots, long-duration road testing, and of course the crash tests.... Lots of moving parts needed to create a new car company.

But, I so want this car.

 

[Craig]

After reading the May 20th Meeting Minutes and seeing the possibility of EM obtaining an additional $600M on top of sales puts me at a 10 as far as EM being able to maintain after start up.

Does any one know about what EM's operating cost would be?

Toyota operating cost in 13 was just under $200M
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=TM Income Statement&annual

I would think the $600M would cover all of EM's operating cost for the year with about 3 or 4 left over.

 

[outsydthebox]

This was a pretty interesting discussion I picked up on facebook.
Our CMO, Tim Andrews, sits down at Internet Week New York to discuss the future of transportation. Watch the video here (#10). http://player.vimeo.com/video/95315615

Yes, Interesting. Did you notice the comment made by Ulrich Quay ( @BMWiVentures ) at about 2min 50sec's? ...."there is a trend towards 3 wheels"....

 

[Dustoff]

After reading the May 20th Meeting Minutes and seeing the possibility of EM obtaining an additional $600M on top of sales puts me at a 10 as far as EM being able to maintain after start up.

Does any one know about what EM's operating cost would be?

Toyota operating cost in 13 was just under $200M
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=TM Income Statement&annual

I would think this would cover all of EM's operating cost for the year with about 3 or $4M left over.

3 or 4 million or 3 or 4 hundred million left over?

 

[Craig]

3 or 4 million or 3 or 4 hundred million left over?

Kinda thought the hundred would be a given. Oops.

 

[RMClubfitter]

After reading the May 20th Meeting Minutes and seeing the possibility of EM obtaining an additional $600M on top of sales puts me at a 10 as far as EM being able to maintain after start up.

Does any one know about what EM's operating cost would be?

Toyota operating cost in 13 was just under $200M
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=TM Income Statement&annual

I would think this would cover all of EM's operating cost for the year with about 3 or $4M left over.

Gotta admit. This latest news is very encouraging. Have to say I'm a 10 also.

 

[Dustoff]

Kinda thought the hundred would be a given. Oops.

That is what I thought. My bad.

 

[Rickb]

Yes, Interesting. Did you notice the comment made by Ulrich Quay ( @BMWiVentures ) at about 2min 50sec's? ...."there is a trend towards 3 wheels"....

BMW has had many three wheeler concepts along with it's current BMW iL which is in a class of it's own.